North American Indian Rite Isanaklesh Gotal: Rite Of Passage Interview And Analysis

North American Indian Rite: Isanaklesh Gotal

Rite of passage is an essential change of status among people of a given society; hence, it is regarded as a significant and cherished tradition. According to the Native American rites of passage, their tradition is colorful, joyous, and vibrant. Therefore, I am going to interview my friend, Piera, about the North American Indian Rite of passage that she underwent. Thereafter, I will analyze the rite based on Van Gennep’s three-fold scheme, Separation, transition, and reincorporation, and Victor Turner’s theories of Communitas and Liminality.

Interview

• Me: Can You please describe the North American Indian Culture, which is also known as Isanaklesh Gotal.
• Piera: It is a ritual that is performed by the Mescalero Apache to the girl child to mark their change in social status. In brief, the ritual aims at transforming pubescent girls as they move through adolescence to enable them to incorporate the deity and become Isanaklesh.
• Me: Where does the ritual enactment take place?
• Piera: The ritual takes place in a “tipi,” a site that is constructed by the community for the girl’s ceremony.
• Me: Since the site for the ritual is constructed, what are some of the resources that are used for construction?
• Piera: In the past, tipis were constructed by using wooden poles and animal skin. However, the norm has changed since modern tipis are built using canvas.
• Me: Do girls possess the site that is used for the ritual?
• Piera: The site that is used for the ceremony is privately owned since it is specifically built for the girl’s ceremony.
• Me: How was the ceremony for you and can you explain it in a little detail?
• Piera: Of course, well the ceremony is when a girl has her first period and is basically 8 days long. The first four days is basically a festival full of lovely songs, stories, pictures, with friends and family. The last four days are to ourselves to reflect on our experience. I was nervous at first, you watch the other girls and their festival but it felt different when you are the center of attention. It’s like a moment you have been waiting for but, were afraid to mess up. My grandmother was my sponsor and helped me along to understand the process, so she was my piece of mind. We prepared deerskins together and talked about how I felt and what I was soon to be experiencing, we ate and drank, before the ceremony itself began. Once the ceremony began this was the moment I had been prepared for., I was blessed by members of my tribe, then massaged. I had to recite a song while running around a basket and I was painted on it, it’s a lot ha but it was a moment I will never forget.
• Me: What happens once the ritual is over, and how did you feel?
• Piera: I am transformed into an official Apache woman, and I felt new like I had opened up a new life and began a new phase in life.
• Me: So it’s just basically a parade to celebrate your first cycle?
• Piera: Haha no, it is like a quinceañera, we celebrate the coming of our womanhood and are given our responsibilities we must follow as adults, and the traditions and everyday living we will endure.
• Me: Is the ceremony kind of a last-minute thing or is it planned.
• Piera: It is prepared several years in advance, and collected over time.

Analysis of the Interview

Isanaklesh Gotal is a ritual that is performed by the Mescalero Apache to mark the physiological and social changes that take place in girls. According to Piera, the ceremony is aimed at “transforming pubescent girls as they move through adolescences to enable them to incorporate the deity and become Isanaklesh.” Therefore, when the ritual is successful, a Mescalero Apache girl will leave behind childhood ways thereby making her emerge as an accountable young Apache woman who can bestow the gift of life, as well as, to carry the tribe’s tradition.

Preparation for Isanaklesh Gotal can start early in the life of a girl. A girl will be guided carefully from their childhood, which is characterized by minimal responsibilities. Nonetheless, in a family where family kin have been watching over the girl from birth when they reach adolescence stage, they would be put in a more tough learning environment. Currently, a young girl’s first menstruation tends to be celebrated traditionally with dahinda, whereby close friends and family members attend the ceremony. According to the tribe’s tradition, it is while celebrating the girl’s first menstruation that her family will choose a singer, a gutaal chanter, and a female sponsor, also known as, Nade Kleshn. It is also during the ceremony that annunciation of the girl’s feast will be made.

Before deciding to have the ritual for a young girl in puberty, the tribe’s tradition requires that the young pubescent girl starts physical, psychological, and spiritual preparation before their mecarche. As such, inquiries are made regarding the past illness history of the young girl whereby parents or guardians of the girl will be asked about that have been experienced by the girl, which can affect her future. Although the teachings and signs that are used to give instructions to the girl preparing for the ritual tend to vary, the overall goal of the guidelines is to convince adolescents that they will undergo a positive and better change, as well as, have an extended life when they participate in the ritual.

Based on this ritual sequence, Gennep’s classification three-fold scheme of separation, transition, and reincorporation that features the rite of passage tend to be concentrated into a single ceremony. At the outset, the young girl is separated from the family, as well as, her daily chores whereby she will be required to live in a privately owned tipi, constructed at the ceremonial site, specifically designed for the occasion. During the pre-liminal rite phase of separation, the young girl will be without social status. However, after undergoing the ritual, they will not be regarded as a child but young women. While undergoing the ritual transformation process, the young girl will be in transition. While in the state of Liminality, the ritual is designed for inscribing the traditional Apache Wisdom and Knowledge into the girl as she changes from being a young girl into a deity, and then transforming back to a female. After undergoing this phase, the girl will then be incorporated into the community characterized by a new social status. It is because the post-liminal ritual involves the use of a girl’s new powers to bless those in the community upon their request. A girl is also permitted to reflect on the ritual, as well as, the powerful changes she has undergone.

Each of the stages that are passed by the girl tends to be accompanied by the tribe’s sacred songs, which generate power. Sacred songs are used to distort the girl’s current time by taking back the participant to the mythological periods when deities were found on earth. The song will then take the time forward to the present through reenacting the myth, thereby making it become a ceremony through the designated sacred Apache rituals. Further, through the songs, the young girl will be transformed into a divine being and then into a new young Apache woman. The complex system is nurtured through the sacraments composed of signs seen as the smallest element of the rite. The sacred significance of the ceremony, which has persisted for a long time, is its ability to transfer the Apache young girls through the sacred symbol of diye, that are used to differentiate the reality of the ritual from an individual’s everyday life. Without the presence of such signs, primary participants would not take part in the ceremony; hence, they would not be prepared for the ritualistic transformation.

Based on the history of Mescalero Apache, Isanaklesh is labeled among the five divine goddesses that were present at the time of creation. During creation times, the Apache tribe believe that Isanaklesh appeared with her lower half face painted in clay while the rest of the body was covered in yellow cattail pollen. At the time, she was wearing a necklace of an abalone shell while she watched over the fruits, medicinal herbs, and flower fields. As such, her creative wisdom and compassion as a healer provided her with information about the plants, animals, and human beings which aided those who were suffering from various illnesses, distress, or injuries. According to the Apaches, before the appearance of Isanaklesh, there was no knowledge about healing. The tribe’s myth is essential in understanding the religious values of the people, as well as, young women’s initiation rites because Isanaklesh is believed to have been the first woman to go through the ceremony. Taken that the myth was given to the tribe by Isanaklesh, it is vital to understand the theory since it offers the framework to the current ritual being practiced. Besides, when a person reflects upon the narrative, they will start seeing the intellectual, aesthetic, and religious climate that the ceremony starts, and also how its beginning influences the tribe today.

Isanaklesh Gotal expects much from a young woman who has undergone the ritual. It is because their preparation tends to focus on their future responsibilities to members of the community, to the country, and themselves. The rite emphasizes self-worth, enabling a young girl participating in the ceremony to understand that their life possesses a more significant meaning and purpose. Further, the ritual also allows the participant to know that the community requires them to enhance the continuity of the tribe’s culture, thereby making the young woman the carrier of the Apache tradition. Isanaklesh Gotal is a cultural, historical, and religious training that instills a strong belief and cultural respect into the young pubescent. For that reason, the ritual tends to empower a girl to comprehend, as well as, value the uniqueness of the tribe’s heritage; hence, alleviating many identical challenges that teenagers go through in their lives. The initiator of the culture differentiates and teaches girls about their role as a wife, a mother, and a caretaker of the Apache culture.